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Guided paths, practice exams, tested scripts and cheat sheets, all built around the Shell Lab.
New here? Start with Help desk to sysadmin: first steps
Learning paths
Short guided routes that join the lab, the cheat sheets, the scripts and practice questions into one order to work through.
Beginner to Intermediate · About 3 hours · 18 stepsPowerShell from zeroFrom your first command to filtering, sorting and your own function, with a cheat sheet and two tested scripts along the way.Beginner · About 2 and a half hours · 16 stepsThe Linux command line for Windows adminsEnough Bash to find your way around a Linux server, read its logs and check its disks, with three tested scripts to take away.Beginner · About 4 hours · 11 stepsHelp desk to sysadmin: first stepsThe ground a help desk tech needs before the sysadmin job: networking basics, Active Directory, Group Policy and security, with practice questions to check yourself.Beginner · About 2 hours · 9 stepsSubnetting from zeroFrom reading a mask to splitting a network, with one method, a calculator to check yourself, and random practice questions that show the working.Beginner to Intermediate · About 4 hours · 17 stepsNetwork administrator: the foundationsPorts, subnetting, DNS and mail records, certificates and the logs that show what went wrong, with practice questions and the tools a network admin reaches for every day.Intermediate · About 5 hours · 21 stepsCybersecurity engineer: the foundationsThe Security+ domains in order, with real attacks from The Advisory, patching and end-of-life risk, email and certificate checks, and log work in the Shell Lab.Beginner to Intermediate · About 3 hours · 15 stepsAI engineer: the foundationsHow to build with AI models responsibly: the vocabulary and moving parts, JSON and tokens, scripting a test run, the security risks from OWASP, and real lessons from working with an AI agent.
Practice exams
Original questions written to the published exam objectives, with an explanation for every answer. All practice exams
SY0-701CompTIA Security+Security+ is an entry-level security certification for people starting out in roles like security analyst, SOC analyst or systems administrator. It checks that you understand core security ideas and can apply them to real situations.65 questions, 5 free to try220-1201 / 220-1202CompTIA A+CompTIA A+ is the entry-level certification for help desk and desktop support roles. It covers hardware, networking, operating systems, security, and troubleshooting across two exams.50 questions, 5 free to tryAZ-104Microsoft Azure AdministratorFor people who run an organization's Azure environment day to day: identity, governance, storage, compute, networking and monitoring. Good hands-on time with the portal, PowerShell or the Azure CLI helps a lot.50 questions, 5 free to try
Anyone can try five questions from each exam. A free account unlocks every question and keeps your scores, by topic, on your profile.
Every question is original, written to the published exam objectives. Exam dumps break the certification agreements, and they would not teach you anything.
Tested scripts
Scripts for real jobs, each labelled with what it was actually run on. All scripts
- Alert when a filesystem is nearly full (Bash)Checks every real filesystem and prints an alert for any at or above a usage threshold. It prints nothing when all is well, so it suits cron, which emails you only when there is output.
- Check TLS certificate expiry for a list of hosts (Bash)Connects to each host, reads its certificate and shows how many days are left. Run it weekly from cron so an expired certificate never surprises you.
- Clear a stuck print queue by resetting the spooler (PowerShell)Stops the Print Spooler, deletes the queued spool files and starts the service again. Use it when a job is stuck and cannot be cancelled from the printer queue window.
- Delete log files older than N days, dry run first (Bash)Finds log files older than a number of days in a directory and lists them. Only when you add –delete does it remove them. Use it to tidy an application log folder that has no rotation.
- Find stale Active Directory user accounts (PowerShell)Lists enabled AD user accounts that have not signed in for a set number of days, including ones that never signed in. Use it before an access review or a clean-up of leavers.
- Find the biggest directories under a path (Bash)Shows the largest directories directly under a path, biggest first, without crossing into other disks. Use it to drill down step by step when a filesystem fills up.
Cheat sheets
One-page references, made to print. All cheat sheets
- Active Directory PowerShell cheat sheetActiveDirectory module cmdlets on one sheet: users, groups, computers and OUs, password resets and unlocks, finding locked, disabled and stale accounts, and -Filter versus -LDAPFilter.
- AI engineering cheat sheetBuilding with large language models in plain terms: the vocabulary, one API call, prompts that work, RAG, tools and agents, testing with evals, and the OWASP Top 10 for LLM applications.
- Bash cheat sheetEveryday Bash on one sheet: navigation, files and permissions with numeric chmod, grep, sort, uniq, sed and awk, processes, disk and memory, journalctl, redirection and a script skeleton.
- Common network ports cheat sheetThe well-known TCP and UDP ports an admin meets, from SSH, DNS and HTTPS to Kerberos, LDAP, SMB, RDP, WinRM, SQL and RADIUS, with a one-line use for each.
- Group Policy cheat sheetWhere common Group Policy settings live, from password, lockout and audit policy to drive maps, BitLocker and Windows Update, plus gpupdate, gpresult, LSDOU processing order and loopback.
- Microsoft 365 admin URLs cheat sheetCurrent web addresses for the Microsoft 365, Entra, Exchange, Intune, Defender, Purview, Teams, SharePoint and Power Platform admin centers, plus service health, Message center and handy direct pages.
- PowerShell cheat sheetEveryday PowerShell on one sheet: navigation, files, the object pipeline, variables, loops, services and processes, help, remoting and execution policy, with common aliases.
- Subnetting cheat sheetIPv4 subnetting by hand: the prefix and mask table, the block-size method, worked examples for finding a network, sizing for hosts, splitting a block and VLSM, plus the ranges and IPv6 basics worth knowing.